Local Institutions, Participation, and Trust

Elena Pro

European Institute, London School of Economics

More civic enagement?

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Ursula Von der Leyen: “European democracy must be more participative, more vibrant.” (Statement at the European Parliament Plenary, July 2024)

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The puzzle

Important

Beyond their functional/instrumental goals, we still do not know whether and how these forms of participation affect citizens’ attitudes

The puzzle

Attitudes Participation

  • The prevailing model in the study of participation and social capital assumes that attitudes drive actions: citizens’ levels of trust, efficacy, legitimacy beliefs, and attitudes towards political groups are seen as factors that determine whether and how they engage in civic life (Almond and Verba 1963; Verba and N. H. Nie 1987; Putnam, Leonardi, and Nonetti 1993).

The puzzle

Attitudes Participation

  • Less is know, however, about the reverse mechanism: how civic actions themselves can shape attitudes toward institutions and political communities.
  • Methodological challenge: isolating participation’s causal effects: voluntary participation attracts those with strong prior convictions, making it difficult to determine whether participation transforms attitudes or simply reflects them.

Questions:

  • What is the relationship between attitudes and participation?
  • Does fostering participation have downstream effects on citizens’ attitudes?

Theory

Main debates about participation and attitudes:

  • Drivers of participation (Downs 1957; Verba and N. H. Nie 1987; Smit, 1994)
  • Consequences of participation (Converse 1969; Dinas 2014; De Kadt 2017; Meredith 2009; Holbein 2020)
  • The consequences of conscription (Bove, Di Leo, and Giani 2024; N. Zhang and Lee 2025, Ronconi and Ramos-Toro forthcoming)

The “ideal” context

Need to find a context where:

  • Participation is not driven by strong prior convictions (i.e., not voluntary).

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Compulsory Civil Service in Austria

  • Around 30 towns in Vorarlberg, Austria, have a compulsory civil service system in place.

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Service Characteristics

Today, the common features of this service across the region are:

  • Households with at least one member between 18 and 65 years old are required by law either to engage in compulsory community manual labour or pay a substitute tax.

  • Only one member per household has to provide the service (in the past, it used to be the head of the household).

  • It involves 1 to 3 days of manual labour each year.

  • The amount of the tax is adjusted to the number of days required and minimum wage.

Data

Issue:

  • No systematic data about this service

Solution:

  • Contacted Wikipedia editors

  • Local journalists

  • Compiled a list of all the towns that still have the service with ChatGPT Deep Search function

    • sent an email translated in German with DeepL
  • Waited patiently for the responses…

Some hiccups on the way

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“Dear Mayor,

…”

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“Dear Ms Pro,

I am very honoured that you have promoted me to mayor, but I am ‘only’ the municipal secretary or head of the office!😉 Our mayor is on holiday this week and is therefore not in the office…”

The Research Design

  1. Exploratory Phase
    • to understand what is going on and how the service works in practice.
  2. Evaluation Phase
    • to estimate and isolate the effect of participating in the service on citizens’ attitudes towards local institutions and political communities.
  3. Explanatory Phase
    • to understand the mechanisms through which participation in the service shapes attitudes.
    • to explore the decision-making process of participants and non-participants.

1. The Exploratory Phase

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The interviews

  • 32 municipalities contacted, 12 replied, 7 agreed to an interview.
  • The convenience sample resulted in 14 public officials: either the mayor, municipal employee or service organiser + one citizen involved in the service.

Preliminary findings

  • Overview:
    • Highly decentralised and trust-based: each municipality operates independently with flexible task assignment based on individual skills and proximity.
  • Participation:
    • Wide variation (2-70 participants per municipality); many pay exemption tax (€70-120) instead.
    • Low participation driven by information gaps, not necessarily disenfranchisement.
  • Public Officials’ Perspective:
    • Officials view service as essential for cost-effective maintenance and community cohesion.
    • Several coordination and recruitment challenges.

2. Evaluation Phase

  1. Encouragement to participation:
  • Control group: Receives no information about the service. A generic link labelled “click to sign up” directs respondents to the standard municipal website.
  • Treatment group: Receives information about the service. A link labelled “click to sign up” directs respondents to a streamlined, custom-designed registration interface.
  1. Effect of “actual” participation on attitudes:
  • Official municipal records to verify actual service enrolment and opt-out payments (first-stage outcome), whilst a follow-up survey one month post-service measures changes in institutional trust and political attitudes (second-stage outcome).

What It Looks Like

interface

Research Design Timeline

Letter

QR code invitation to survey

Survey + Encouragement

Pre-treatment attitudes and demographics
Control: Generic link
Treatment: Info + Sign-up link

Service Period

Verify enrolment via municipal records
(1st stage)

Follow-up Survey

Measure attitude changes
(2nd stage, +1 month)

Outcomes of Interest

  • Primary Outcomes:
    • Institutional trust (local government, public services, national and sovranational institutions)
    • Community attachment (local, national, supranational identities)
    • Civic duty (?)
    • Social cohesion (?)
    • Political efficacy (?)

Thank you!

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Any Questions?

📧 e.pro@lse.ac.uk    

🦋 @elenapro.bsky.social    

🐦 @elenapro0    

🌐 www.elenapro.eu

Appendix

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